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"Jinnie, I'm going to explode!" I groaned indignantly, swatting lazily at his approaching hand bearing a big bite of meat in front of my face.

"You need all the food you can fit in your stomach, Diana. Last one, come on," he urged.

I scoffed, "You said the same thing for the last bite I took! Give it to someone else," I whined.

Jin sighed with a roll of his eyes before turning around. His eyes first landed on Hoseok who froze under his stare.

"Oh, not me. Please, no." Hoseok shook his head, clutching at his stomach, "I think being over fed is kinda counterproductive, hyung." He pointed whilst the eldest gaped at the dancer, clearly taking offence, "No one's being over fed! We'll be walking for hours to get there, this is to make sure none of you malnourish while we make our way to that cave!" He defended.

"Well, I'm done eating so." Yoongi chimed casually before standing up. The others collectively agreed as well, leaving Jin to shrug and eat the last piece himself.

"Is the pot ready? Has everyone drank enough?" Namjoon questioned aloud, receiving a chorus of 'yes's. Nodding, he stood up as well and joined in on Yoongi who strode towards the pantry to bring out the pot filled with water.

Yeah, so unfortunately, the other ideas we had discussed didn't work out well enough to go through with. With the very last bit of rope left, Jungkook and Yoongi worked together to wrap the rope around the pot in such a way that we'd be able to carry it like a bag. With all the time in the world on my part, I worked on a decent, flat lid for the pot so that the water inside the pot isn't directly under the sun's beam.

We can't have our water supply evaporating to steam. No thank youuuuu

"Okay, the sun is getting higher and higher the longer we spend here. Let's get a move on, guys!" Hoseok pointed out, urging the rest that were still sitting, to stand up and begin moving.

Jungkook rushed towards the ladder, where the bright blue and bright pink bags were propped against the poles. Grabbing a hold of both of the bags before sprint back to the campfire.

I reached over for mine but the male immediately tsked disapprovingly, "No, you're not getting this bag. Jin hyung will be carrying it for you." He stated and I scoffed, "What? Why not?" I grouse with a frown.

The brunet's expression deadpanned my way, "Are you really asking me that?" He bluntly put, pointing his gaze to my leg, my crutch and myself.

"Well, it's not like my back has a problem. I can carry it." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Sweetie, a no is a no." Yoongi piped in after he'd helped bring the pot out, setting it just outside the density of the forest with Joon's help.

I turned towards the elder male, who made his way beside kook with a small smirk on his face. I 'hmph'ed indignantly and dropped it with a final glare his way when he narrowed his eyes at me.

He's lucky I'm currently at a disadvantage with my sprain. Otherwise, I'd be wiping that smug look off his face. Not that I would dare hurt him. God no. I'd present myself to Satan without a second thought, if I did.

"Then what will I carry?" I asked with a frown. Taehyung and Joon volunteered to help carry the pot along the way in turns, Jungkook is carrying his pink bag and now, Jin with the blue. Jimin is holding the map I completed alongside the dart gun and Hoseok and Yoongi are going to carry our foods for the trip.

That leaves me with my sword and single dart gun. Everyone has their own swords as well.

Oh, and speaking of dart guns, I need to question their tactic with their decision regarding who carries the gun. How is me carrying one going to benefit anyone in case a situation arises?

"You'll be carrying the gun and your sword, of course." Taehyung piped in brightly. I frowned more prominently at that, "Which I still think is a bit odd. I don't understand why I should be the one carrying the gun." I huffed.

Jungkook shook his head, "The gun is safest with you." He pointed and I scoffed, "The gun needs protecting, now?" I grumbled. Jungkook spluttered at my response, "That's not what I meant—"

"Isn't it a bit too late to begin questioning everything now?" Yoongi cut in, "We're going to be in the forest soon enough. Making changes now will just be a waste." He pointed.

"Guys, come on!" Jimin called out beside the pot, waving the map in his hands and pointing towards the sky, "We should begin moving before the sun begins setting," he stated. Soon after, Namjoon carefully slung the ropes over his shoulder with Hoseok's help so the water doesn't fall out before the dimpled man is carrying the pot on his back like a backpack.

"Hyung," Hoseok turned towards Yoongi, pointing towards the tied-together cloth holding enough food to help us get by for 3 days max. The pale man nodded his way and jogged over, grabbing one clothed bag and carrying it. Hoseok followed suit with the second one.

Those cloths are a mix of all of our bed sheets and covers since we won't be staying in the camp any longer. Of course, we didn't waste every single one of them to carry out food. 4 sheets were enough to make do.

We plan to use the rest to help us sleep through our night in the forest. The cave we were heading to, in this case.

I turned to look at kook, who put a hand behind my back to silently urging me forward with a small smile on his face. I nodded with a small sigh and shuffled over towards where everyone was patiently waiting by the bushes leading inside. Jungkook handed over the blue bag to Jin and made his way back to my side with a wider smile.

"We're finally getting out of here, Ana." He grinned, automatically making me smile back as well, "We are. Let's hope for the best and make it out in one piece." I mumbled and he nodded.

Then just like that, our journey began. We passed by the familiar markings of red thread around the trees peacefully.

Soon, we progressively made it towards the areas where Kook had routinely marked new areas with the new blue thread after our red one had finally ran out. I had taken part in it as well, but just barely considering I had spent a good week using blue thread before my injury.

Now that I think about it, I'm seriously glad I was the one who took the wounds instead of the others. Had I seen a single cut or bruise on anyone else, I can only imagine how much of an annoying rat I'd be by simply fussing over them and dotting on them like my life depends on it. I'd probably go insane from that, and then the guys would be fed up of me.

I chuckled at my inwardly at my own monologues. I'm definitely glad to know and see right in front of me how none of the boys sport any sort of injury.

Jin would know, though. When his back was covered with purple bruises from the incident that occurred nearly months prior to now, where the Olfstin got ahold of him, I had nearly led him to throw me into the river from how much I bothered him about the bruises.

Look, I just hate seeing others hurt. ㅠㅠ

"I didn't think the cave was that far."

I snapped back to our trek, tuning in on Jin's conversation with Taehyung. "I didn't think so either. But when Jungkookie pointed towards some giant rock beside many others, I thought he was pranking me after getting Joon hyung and I so far inside, only to stand in front of a bunch of rocks. Turns out, there's a decent-sized cave hidden behind it. We've prettied it up with the glowing rocks, too." He replied.

"Hah... they have so much faith in me..."

I stifled a chuckle at Jungkook from beside me, who's also listening in on the two males' conversation ahead of us. He sported a deadpan look their way before he smiled back at me when I snorted.

"I wish we could bring those rocks back to the real world." Jungkook chimed my way and I hummed, "I want to bring it, too. They brighten up the setting very well. It would work like a charm." I smiled.

Jungkook nodded, "I still wonder how you managed to find that cave." He giggled softly, "That giant rock is quite heavy to move. When did you find it, again?" He asked curiously.

I winced, "Not at the best of times; I was being chased down after my very first encounter with an Olfstin." I stated and smiled when he hissed in disdain. I lifted my left arm ahead of me, "I got this small scar on my hand from that occurrence. It's also why the blue bag was so scratched up." I pointed and he nodded. He reached for my left arm and pulled at my sleeve to take a look at my scar.

"Small my ass, Ana." He turned, making me roll my eyes, "It's not a big deal, bambi." I retorted.

"Ah, the scratch mark on the tree!" Jimin announced, pointing ahead of him at one particular tree sporting an obvious scratch mark. A long one at that.

Awesome! Just from here, we have to walk a little to our left and then straight from then on. We would reach the cave eventually. "Straight ahead, then." Jimin informed.

From this point on, we would be moving farther away from the river. Also, I have to say - Jin was doing the right thing by making us eat till we were filled to the brim.

Had I eaten the usual amount I ate other times, I would've began to feel the starting point where I burnt away all the food I consumed with all the walking we were doing. Not to mention the amount of water I chugged down, making me want to puke.

His persistances with how much we consume was working perfectly considering how non of us have bothered to give our pot of water a glance. Nor the food.

We were pretty much 10 minutes into our trip to the giant cave.

We reached the point in the forest where I vividly remember me and kook had diverted our path to a sharp right, where we followed the Olfstin closely after leading it further from the camp so it didn't reach close. A little further from there, we would reach the trap.

I know there aren't any set-up traps awaiting before us with the current path we were taking. I've passed by this point of the forest plenty of times, but it still worried me a little considering I hadn't made any trips here for a good while because of my annoying sprain.

I just hope the doctors in the real world were taking care of my foot since all injuries we gain in the game is presented in our body at the hospital.

-

"Joon hyung, let me carry it now," Taehyung piped after a few beats of silence in between the group. Namjoon turned his neck to peer at Taehyung jogging forward and towards him with outstretched hands, ready to take over the duty to carry our water supply.

"I can still go on for a while, Tae." Namjoon gave a small smile, assuring the younger male as he clutched securely on the ropes slung over his shoulders. Taehyung pouted but nodded his way, nonetheless. "Let me know anytime if you begin to feel tired." He muttered, earning a nod in response.

Jin looked over his shoulders, slowing down slightly so that kook and I could keep our pace with him by his side, "How're you holding up, dear?" He asked me.

I grunted softly as I shifted my crutch forward, "I'm doing fine. Thank goodness for the little stamina I built." I laughed softly. I was shedding some sweat on my forehead by now, but it isn't exactly the easiest to keep a decent pace with everyone else with my crutch and single good leg.

Not to mention the setting we were in. The ground wasn't exactly the flattest. There were very few moments where my crutch landed on a tiny rock or a more sturdy and rough surface along the way which made me momentarily lose my balance.

God bless the bunny boy beside me because my face hadn't kissed the ground yet, and I don't plan to give it one anytime soon. He helped me regain my balance. Again, this occurred very few times so I don't suppose the repeat of nearly toppling over was too annoying to handle for the boy.

The sun was right over our heads now, but since this forest was full of all kinds of trees and plants, not to mention the overgrowing mess of vegetation, many canopies were helping us by blocking the sunlight from penetrating our heads.

Sadly, there wasn't a lot of breeze and with the sun radiating heat every second of the day, it was still as hot as a sauna, if not more.

I know for a fact that all of us would've been inside the cave at this point had we been running, but let's not break a sweat just like that. We have no clue about what else the cave we were striving to reach held, so we needed to hold enough strength and stamina to try and handle it. Only if it had things to throw our way.

Oh and the sweat I was breaking is excluded. The only reason I'm like this is because of the disadvantage I have with my situation. Else, I'd be enjoying this little trek a bit more than I would with my position.

"The cave should be close now." Jimin announced. "Blue thread..." he mumbled under his breath, squinting his eyes after looking away from the map before spotting what he was looking for a distance away.

"Ah, thread!" He beamed, jogging a little to get to it before looking back down on the map, "From here, we should be able to see a rocky cliff-side." He pointed out.

I hummed to myself as I looked passed the bodies walking ahead of me before narrowing my eyes at a particular opening between two large trees. That's where we have to go.

"The opening between the two trees," I announced, adding it with a point of a finger as the boys turned my way. They followed the direction of my pointer finger before walking that way.

Jungkook glanced at me for a moment before looking ahead again.

"There's a small area with plants and bushes from this point that we have to move through." Namjoon piped in, gauging through his memories to recall his previous trek till here.

I smiled knowingly at kook who was visibly conflicted on whether to stay by my side or to walk ahead to help. I nudged at his forearm with my elbow, earning his attention. With one nod towards Jimin and Hoseok, he got the gist of my silent message and jogged ahead.

"I know where it is." He chimed, helping Minnie and Hobi with finding that spot.

"Here," he called out for everyone, holding open an oddly long extension of leaves poking past thick bushes, revealing a rocky slope behind it.

Everyone shuffled past the opening kook held open, me being last before he pushed past it as well, leaving it to close itself on its own.

"This rock?" Hoseok gestured towards one large rock placed right ahead. Taehyung nodded vigorously, rushing ahead to help push it aside with Hoseok. "Yahhh," Jin breathed out, noticing a glimpse of the cave's opening.

Once the rock rolled to the side, the men that had yet to reach here gaped in astonishment, voicing out their curiosity regarding how someone would even manage to spot this.

I grinned smugly at that, because I just so happen to find it on my own, too.

Not to brag or anything, but I also managed to shift the rock away by myself. If you look past the more than concerning strain in my voice as I put my all to push it aside so I can crawl in, I'd think I'm quite strong.

Also, thank the lord we reached. The sun is ready to sleep and my right arm is about to say 'ciao!' for all the work it had to put up with. My left foot, too. They are not happy and I know they are sobbing.

"Move aside, I need to sit down." I huffed wearily, bending my upper body down so I can slip in before I helped myself to my knees, throwing the crutch in before crawling to the side of the cave to lean against it.

"If you break your crutch, that's on you." Yoongi warned, crawling after me and grabbing the said crutch before throwing it at me. I chuffed, barely catching it as it flew my way, "Speak for yourself, bear." I countered.

He rolled his eyes in good nature before shuffling to sit beside me. Without a second to spare, he let out a grunt and plopped his head on my shoulder, "Ah, if you're gonna lean your head, do it on my left shoulder." I complained, shrugging lightly to get him to lift his head. My right arm and shoulder need a break.

He groaned in a whine before gripping on my forearm and pulling, making me huff. Of course, make me move, why don't you.

"You lazy bum." I chuckled, shuffling over his legs and plopping to his right so he could finally lean on my left shoulder. He only grumbled incoherently under his breath, keeping a light grip on my upper arm so I don't move my arm whilst he rested.

I watched as Jin and Hoseok yelled in a panic when Namjoon began pushing on the pot a little too roughly after propping it on the ground beside the opening of the cave.

"Yah! The water will fall out! Just- let me do it." Hoseok laughed. Namjoon pouted but let the fellow 94' liner do it anyway. I smiled as the younger trio piled in with loud sighs and groans, flopping onto their sides as they laid on the ground with the bags discarded at the very back of the cave. Jin had given his blue bag to Tae before he helped Hoseok push the pot inside without spilling any water. Namjoon crawled inside soon after with a sheepish look.

I personally don't have the best of memories being here, considering the only times I've come here have been when I acquired scarring wounds on myself. I paused at that reminder and stretched my neck to peer beside me, to my right, knowing this spot was where I bawled my eyes out, trying to wrap up the awful gash on my back the best I could in a rush.

I remember leaving a little stain on the rocks and speaking of which, I let out a grimace at the little splotch marks of red on the gray surface. With scanning eyes discreetly examining the others, I tried to shuffle over towards it to block it from their view. With Yoongi taking my entire left arm captive, I did my best to behave as nonchalant as possible, not wanting to make him question the reason behind my movement.

"Why are you moving so much?" He huffed irritably, pulling slightly at my forearm to urge me to stay still.

Well, that obviously didn't work...

"I'm trying to get comfortable." I replied cooly, turning away when he lifted his head for a moment to gauge my expression before ultimately plopping his back onto my shoulder with an uncaring demeanour. I heaved out a breath but stiffened just slightly upon noticing Hoseok's stare. I gave the sunshine boy a wide grin in response to his narrowing gaze.

He returned my smile soon after and I finally relaxed, figuring he was simply wondering what was going on with Yoongi as he glanced his way with a quirked brow.

"The sun's already done setting." Taehyung breathed out, peeking past a few tiny gaps between the rock hiding us and the opening of the cave. I didn't worry about him seeing the little stain at the side of this cave beside the entrance since he was so engrossed in peeping outside through the tiny gaps like a curious puppy on the other side of the cave.

I jolted on my spot when Yoongi brought one hand over my left hand and interlocked our hands together, unsurprisingly bringing a blush of pink to cover my cheeks at the gesture. I paid no mind to it, but it became progressively hard to do so when he started to play with my fingers and rubbed caressing patterned over my knuckles, a particular slide of hands over the visible sight of my scar running up my arm and under my sleeve making me shiver.

I thought he was taking a nap?? What in the frickity fracking frog is this??? Can he really think doing this will not effect me in ways I know will get me all flustered and shy??

This b—

"They'll eventually notice it." He mumbled audibly, loud enough for only me to hear. I tensed at that and turned to him as he stretched his neck to peer at me through his peripheral vision, returning my gaze with a knowing glint. I gulped, unconsciously squeezing his hand with mine nervously, "Notice what?" I dared to ask, not wanting to reveal anything in case he was talking about something else.

"You know what. You're trying to hide it from their view." He responded. Well, that confirms what he's talking about.

"Three of them had already made their rounds here to set things up." He pointed lowly and I nodded with pursed lips. "Still. It's not something you can just look at so casually. It's obvious what they are." I sighed.

I smiled softly when he squeezed my hand back on silent comfort, "We'll be here just to stay over one night. Don't worry too much about who sees it, sweet girl." He mumbled. I hummed lowly, "Jungkook noticed what you were doing." He stated and I shot my head up, immediately meeting said boy's gaze.

He sported soft eyes in response to my wide ones, mouthing 'it's okay.' when noticing my surprise. He probably figured that Yoongi told me about his knowing gaze. I watched as he crawled our way and plopped on my right, making me tense up even more since the stains were right there.

"It's okay," he consoled, noticing my stiffness. Jungkook gave the red splotches a glance and smiled my way, "The others know. Well, except Jimin, Hobi and Jin hyung." He chuckled lowly.

I heaved out a breath. Well, more than half of them know. I'm mostly worried about how hobi and jimin will take this if they notice so I suppose it's not that bad a deal.

"Even if they notice, there's really nothing to say. We all know why it's there. It happened like- a month ago." He shrugged. I mean, I guess that's true.

Speaking of months... I've been in this damned place for nearly half a year. What the freak.

"Everyone," Namjoon clapped his hands to gain our attention before continuing, "Let's settle for the day and eat up. Catch up on some more sleep sooner so we wake up early again tomorrow to continue our journey." He stated.

Everyone voiced their response and shuffled around; Hoseok helped Taehyung as they already worked to unravel the cloth bags we'd made to carry our foods whilst Jin reached over for the blue bag, pulling out dish plates and a small wooden tray alongside the few cups used to scoop out and drink our water.

Jungkook shuffled away from my side and rummaged through his own bag to pull out utensils I recall carving out with my single sword on my first day by the camp to make myself chopsticks and what not.

Oh! I completely left out the fact that Yoongi and I worked through making a wooden box where we could store some fish for ourselves. Not only that, but the box had a slide-in mechanism with the lid. Hehe.

"Good thing I picked up a few lone, branch sticks," Jimin laughed, crawling back out of the cave to set up a campfire so we can warm up our foods and few meats we brought along.

I watched with a grin as Namjoon volunteered to start the fire, claiming that he's gone on plenty of camp trips with a few friends to know how to start one himself. Jimin nodded with a shrug, gesturing for the elder to proceed.

I glanced towards the quiet male using me as his pillow silently, "You asleep?" I asked softly. "Yes." He replied instantly.

Snorting, I nudged him softly with my elbow, "Funny. Come on, you can sleep after eating. We walked for a while." I mentioned. With a sigh, he complied, pulling me along with him to sit just by the entrance, helping me shuffle out without moving my right foot too much in the process.

"Thanks." I smiled and he nodded.

Namjoon had quickly started the fire and Jin immediately got to work with Jungkook lending a hand as well. Everyone eventually began to scarf down their meal, basking in the silence of the forest and the peaceful aura surrounding us.

Thank goodness nothing had happened on the way here. I know it will become much trickier to manoeuvre towards our destination knowing that starting from here, the area is undiscovered and not marked by us.

High possibility of new traps could be laid out, effectively hidden from the growing pile of fallen leaves on the ground which unnerves me at the mere thought.

As I observed the boys I've grown incredibly fond of, I can only really hope that nothing too seriously dangerous occurs. We'd be too far from our camp at that point to retreat and form a new plan. Finding some place to hide, knowing nothing about the area is also a difficult alternative. We'd all leave to make sure to stick together throughout and with my dumbarse with a single functioning foot, it'll be quite the hassle to put up with.

"Algqlph—?!" I choked when Yoongi shoved some food into my mouth, catching me greatly off-guard. "You really think too much for your own good. Quit troubling your mind so much, Diana. Seriously, I mean it." He sternly stated, waving the chopsticks he held in my face with a strict look on his face..

I recovered from my gag reflex as I chewed on the meat he shoved into my mouth, giving him a glare indicating how much I don't appreciate the gesture. Maybe if I wasn't choking half to death and had he not been so swift with it, I'd find the gesture cute.

Cute my foot.

I sighed after I swallowed and nodded dejectedly under his sharp gaze, "Yeah, yeah." I complied with a grumble. His gaze softened after that and he brought one hand to caress my head affectionately, bringing a red tint to my cheeks at his silent way for making up for my near visit to death.

"I didn't mean to choke you, sorry." He mumbled. I chuckled warmly at that, "It's fine. I guess I deserved it, anyway." I brushed off, this time making sure to finish my own food whilst he nodded, returning to his own plate. I did stop spiralling in my train of negative scenarios so.

All I hope for right now, is that I didn't just jinx anything regarding our trip becoming progressively dangerous.

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Hhhhhhhhh

We're about to enter some unmarked territory after this 🫡🫡 let's just hope those traps laid out for them don't induce serious mishaps and make their journey far more difficult than it has to be 😖😖

2 out of 5 of the uni's I've applied to so far has accepted me! Woo!!! 🥳🥳 but both of them happen to be a little anticlimactic 🥹 my enrolment fee's deadline for one of them happened to be one day before another entrance exam I have, so it got shot to the mud as an option 🥲

The recent admission offer happens to be in a different campus of the same uni that I never applied for or agreed to 🙃🥲🥲 man... what has the universe set up for me? 😂😂😭😭✨

Hope you lot enjoyed this chapter! 🥰 sorry for that little rant, I wanted to let this out somewhere else besides my own family just so it's off of my chest for good 😅

See you next week! 🥰😘❤️💕💕💕✨✨

~ Ada